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Hey readers~ This is a little info dump before you keep going. This book is approximately four years old, and as such, when I unearthed it in the cesspool of random google docs and brushed off some cobwebs, it was dismally written to match my age at the time. Long story short, I've been rewriting parts as I post them, but if you guys ever see a part that sounds so corny a 14 year old wrote it (nothing against 14 year olds, I was just a crappy writer at that age), followed up by acceptable writing, don't be afraid to point out the contrast! I've been slowly scouring it for the hundreds of writing hiccups its infected with, so I'll need all the help I can get ~ bring out your blunt critiques ~. Also, I usually update it for reader corrections once a month, so if you point out an error at the start of a month, then I swear I'm not ignoring you, I'm just hella lazy. <3
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As soon as Káel's group made it through the Silver House door, the guides ditched them in the hands of what they called the Sector Leaders, which summed up to be a lady with a silky and caring personality, and a boot camp commander wannabe that immediately divided the group into girls and boys. The lady took the girls away, and left the boys cringing under the oppressing aura of Sev.
At least, that's the name he introduced himself with.
"No runnin', no killin' each other, no animals taller than your waist, and no creepin' on the ladies dorm." Sev announced. He'd pulled the group to the far left of the lobby room, and up a tight flight of stairs, where he turned around and blocked the exit. "Oh yeah, and don't be cursing your faces off without a good reason, unless ya wanna be singing like a lady during dinner time for everyone to hear."
Sev led the group into a short, door-lined hall, ending with another door acting as an exit.
"Righty now, check out your cards if ya have em, if ya don't then you better have em before the end o' today. Top right corner's a number, go look for yer matchin' door."
There was a diminutive 15 printed in black on the corner of Káel's card, so he trudged to the end of the hall, wondering if they had the same numeric system as Earth, or if the translator was somehow working on it too.
He kept his gaze on the odd numbered doors to his right, finally stopping at the very end of the hall with a nervous gulp.
There it was, last brown door on the right.
"You nines and sixes never know what door ya got," Sev boomed, causing Káel to jump at the growling rich voice and stare at a group of boys standing around him. "Well eh, I got a theory! How bout you test which one opens for ya, and if neither does then you can go askin' me about it! Oh yeah, and not to make any of you newbies uncomfortable, but yer all two to a room. Better chances ya won't go sneakin' out past curfew."
He sighed, his mind still clinging to the fact that he was currently surrounded by aliens, and now he'd have one as a roommate for three months.
Three months. Those two words alone never failed to twist his heart into an ill discomfort. His uncle hadn't let him go on a field trip for more than three days, and now, with the help of a shifty blonde with more issues than his powerless 'telly', he'd shot well past Armstrong's record.
Needless to say, the prospect of being an astronaut had never crossed Káel's mind, he was leaning towards a vet, spending his days caring for kittens and puppies that couldn't go wrong with their permanent states of child-like, blissful ignorance.
Except Jeremiah. That cat was a dick.
Káel sucked in a wad of air and held it as he entered the room, it had a fresh and crispy appeal to it, but was boringly bare of decorations. There were two neatly folded beds divided by a large space of carpet, and two closed off doors to his right. Three separate windows took up most of the wall across from him, they were each shrouded by thin white curtains, with the dim light of the evening pouring through them. The scene made him feel like he'd trudged into a hotel room.
A really boring hotel room.
Suddenly, a voice came from behind him. "I call left bed!" A coat went flying over his head, barely landing on the edge of the right bed. The mysterious voice sounded off again. "Snap I missed it, although it was hard aiming over your head."
A nimble boy, at least half a head shorter than Káel strolled into the room. He snatched his coat and threw it onto his claimed territory, ruffling his hair back and looking at Káel.
"Hey, you're the kid that was running with that fire head!"
Assuming Vera was the 'fire head', Káel nodded. He was tired from the day's events, after all it did seem to include a ludicrous amount of running away from terrifying monsters.
"Might wanna wipe off whatever's on your shoes," the boy said, pointing at the clumps of dirt packed cobwebs.
Káel dropped down on the side of his bed and reached down to pull off his shoes, but something wasn't right. He felt like he'd sat on something hard and lumpy, but he could feel his phone packed snugly into his front pocket. He slipped his shoes off and felt the space beneath his butt, it was in his pocket.
He reached in and immediately recognized the object, pulling it into view his face scrunched up with confusion.
In his hand, was a flat brown rock.
"What's that?" the boy questioned.
"It's a rock..." Káel said, sliding it between his palms and certain he'd dropped it in room. If not, he didn't remember pocketing it.
The boy exaggeratedly nodded a couple times, then went to the door. "We should go get our bags, Sev said they were in the lounge."
When Káel had informed the boy that he didn't have a bag, and was nosily grinded for the exact reason why, he just finished getting to the part where Ray had pushed him off a cliff when the boy stopped him.
"So you're from Earth?" Awe filled his eyes. "Does that mean you're related to one of the warlords? I thought that was a dumb joke! What's your rank?"
"Woah hold up," Káel cut in, raising his open palms. "I told you, I was kidnapped by a guy named Ray. I didn't even know this place existed, or anything about lumience until I came here. Heck I haven't even seen so much as a picture of my parents, for all I know they're dead."
The brightness in the boy's eyes faded. "Oh... Sorry."
Káel felt a stab of guilt for ruining his roommate's excitement, he hadn't thought much about his parents. If they were dead, it would be like tearing up at the death of complete strangers to him, but to lighten the mood, he decided start grind the short boy in return. "Hey I wanna ask you something. Why do think I'm related to a Warlord?"
The boy nodded with an almost contagious burst of excitement, and thus began a long, and painful history lesson. By the time Truvius got to explaining how 'the twerps up in Goldwater' turned on an ancient portal they'd found and watched an army from Nova - whatever that was - waltz through their front doors, Káel was seriously starting to wonder if his roommate had even heard his question right.
He humoured him. Which proved to be a fatal mistake as Truvius was still going after five extra minutes, this time listing off a bunch of names like Garaeans and Lumers, which Káel assumed to be races of a sort, since asking more questions didn't suit his time budget. Apparently the Garaeans mobilised some forces on Goldwater, and like your average war it didn't just settle between the two, and 'most of the Lumers' retaliated with dismal results.
The moment Truvius took a deep breath to keep going, Káel threw his hands up to stop him. The desperation to escape the boring drones of information was hidden behind a less than convincing smile, as Káel cleared his throat to secure an ear on his words. "That's interesting and all, but what does all this war stuff have to do with warlords?"
Káel grimaced, that sentence had definitely sounded smarter in his head, but Truvius didn't seem to catch it.
"Well, you see," Truvius cocked his head up with leaking authority, raising a single finger in the air. "For one, I wasn't finished. But that Novan army was eventually found in Shakri'gurn Mountain amassing an army, so the Garaeans and Lumers were forced to settle their differences and march to battle." He raised a second finger, barely noticing Káel's disapproving squint. "So with that information I can tell you that any rulers who signed the Treaty to March on Shakri'gurn got the title of a Warlord, and after the army was defeated, those said warlords were the only ones with enough authority to even look at the ancient portal." He raised a third finger, utterly confusing Káel as to why he was counting the statements, when they could hardly count as a list. "Which leads to my third point. There were a number of tall tails running around during the war, one of them being that some of the warlords had been using the portal to send away relatives, since it was seized part way through, when victory was starting to look less than likely."
Káel did a small nod. Now he was seriously doubting Ray's intelligence.
The boy jumped off his bed and approached Káel. "I should get my bags now. What's your name?"
"Káel?"
He'd been blasted by an extremely foreign history lesson, and after half listening to it, his brain was trying to piece the information into a plausible solution for being kidnapped by a blonde imbecile with a horribly named cat. Nonetheless, his roommate ignored Káel's expression as it gradually degraded to a blank stare, and took the opportunity to introduce himself.
"I'm Truvius Jake Minefeld, pleasure to meet you," he said, grabbing Káel's hand and shaking it.
Truvius left the room, leaving Káel to explore its vicinity out of pure boredom. There was a closet and a nightstand beside his bed, with a simple 28 hour clock being the only object adorning the smooth stand, with a small metal dragon carved to rest on it and watch its ticking arms. He dropped the rock beside the dragon clock and went to explore the two closed doors.
Behind the first one was a study room, with one desk, two empty shelves, and a curtainless window. The second room was empty, except for a strange latch like thing on the ceiling that didn't seem to budge, even when Káel grabbed a chair and tried to open it. He didn't have anything else to distract himself with, and so, the long struggle of trying to open the ceiling latch began.
He was in the middle of stabbing into the latch with his tooth pendant when a loud voice from his right nearly knocked him off the chair in fright. "I think that's an emergency exit."
Káel jumped again when he saw Truvius looking at him. He'd deposited his bags by the door to see where all the knocking sounds were coming from, only to find Káel standing unstably on a fragile looking chair, while toying with part of the ceiling.
"So much for an exit, if it doesn't even open," Káel joked, jumping off the chair, and sliding it back into the study room.
Sev's booming voice reverberated through the hall, sounding something like food time.
After Truvius convinced Káel eating food wouldn't kill him and not doing such would, Káel found himself seated at one of three long tables stretching across most of a window lit cafeteria. Talli and Vera seated themselves across from them, and Truvius kept their attention by holding an ever changing thread of conversation that he would quickly revive whenever it died out.
He silently ate his food without trying to think of what it was made of. Whenever he stuffed a piece in his mouth he would quickly try to relate it to something Earthy, which kept him from losing his appetite at most times. When he was almost through with his plate, a furry mass jumped onto his lap and squirmed over to the empty seat beside him.
Ragdoll gave her face a couple licks then cuddled up right next to him and closed her eyes.
"Hah! there you are. By the way, your cat ran away..." A gloved hand came down upon Káel's head and violently ruffled his hair, the familiar voice vanquished any cheer he'd acquired throughout the course of the day, as it reminded him about the situation he'd been unwillingly plunged into. "Nice job losing Draven, it was hilarious to watch Mariel scold someone other than myself," Ray said, noticing Talli's confused stare. "I'm Ray."
"Wait, so you're the guy who kidnapped Káel?" Truvius blurted in an unnecessarily matter-of-fact tone, causing Káel to inhale some of his food and break into a violent coughing spurt.
Ray nodded, waiting patiently for Káel to stop choking. "It's best not to go around telling everyone where you're from, otherwise you're gonna get a lot of unwanted attention."
"He's right, we should keep this to ourselves, because depending on your lineage, you could be one heck of a target," Vera said ominously, stabbing at her food with a calmed smile.
"Target? Y-you mean like assassins and stuff?" Talli said, wearing a severely confused look. She had been toying with her eating utensils while trying to comprehend her friend's sudden change of topic without any luck.
Káel wasn't hungry anymore, and with good reason. There he was eating, when a bunch of people he knew next to nothing about sprang up the morbid topic of him getting assassinated, despite the fact he had yet to piss anyone off. He stacked his dishes and stood up to leave, just as an object tumbled off his lap and hit the floor.
Ray ducked under the table, and came out revealing a flat brown rock.
The flat brown rock.
The one Káel distinctly remembered leaving on the nightstand.
Yet there it was.
Again.
"You brought that rock with you?" Truvius chuckled.
Káel grabbed it from Ray and flipped it in his hand, furrowing his brow with cautious confusion. "I'm... gonna go back to the room."
Ray offered to follow him, which Káel quickly declined. As soon as he got to his room, he threw open the door to the study room, and hastily walked to the window. Removing the latch that kept it sealed, he pushed it open, and was blasted by a wave of fresh cold air.
The white star was burning over the horizon, casting the sky into an aquamarine starset that smothered him with the nagging nausea of unfamiliarity. He wasn't home. The scene was captivating, but he'd never enjoy its beauty with that thought haunting his every move.
What was his uncle going to think?
Káel sighed, the panic wrenching through his heart as another thought touched his mind.
What about Sora?
He took in the alien scenery, his chin quivering as he resisted the urge to burst into terrified tears at the cruel twist his life had taken, he needed something to distract himself from the insanity. His fist clenched around the rock as he remembered its existence, and his objective.
Without a flicker of hesitation he grabbed the rock and whipped it out the window, silently watching it sail over the roof and out of sight. He patted down his empty pockets, sighing with relief. It was just his imagination.
There was a muffled thunk that perked his attention as he approached his bed, sounding from his immediate right, from within the closet he had yet to explore. He slid the door open and peeked inside, squinting at the silver streaked uniform poking out of its dark confinements. He pushed his head further in to find some sort of leathery black combat suit, and tapped it so it lightly smacked the wall, making a soft padded thump.
Suddenly, something small and hard slid from the top of the closet and smacked him square on the back of the head. He threw his hands up to squeeze a handful of hair, expecting the pain from his concussion to stab through him, until he realised it wasn't there anymore. He looked at his feet where the object had fallen, and for the first time in his life, he was now genuinely scared. Scared of a rock.
It was stalking him.
How? He didn't have the slightest clue, it just was. He threw the thing out a window, and it still came back, there had to be something wrong with it.
His heart skipped a beat as he took in the ludicrous fantasy around him.
Was it cursed?
Did that mean he was cursed now?
He stared at it in disquiet contemplation, scooping it up with his shoe and dropping it on his pillow. He crouched down to keep it at his eye level, inspecting it with a serious frown. It was a rock, there wasn't anything non rocky about it. He poked its cold and grainy surface, backing away into the study room, only breaking his gaze with it when he quickly slammed the door.
After dropping against the door with a shaking sigh, he pulled his knees up to hide his head and soak in the comforting darkness.
It wasn't too late to wake up.
He'd give anything to get up for school at obnoxious hours and greet Sora every morning with a tired frown on their way to school together. The world he was sitting in now was every kid's dream, a fantasy-scape of dragons and magic with princesses ready for rescue and secret gems of power hiding in every crevice. But reality had a vile power of putting everything into perspective. The day had been a sickening nightmare, and Lumi was just there to show how much he'd taken a home for granted, and now he was hiding like a little girl from a rock.
A lifeless, cold, tiny rock.
He left the study room and sighed. If there was a day he'd dubbed as worst of all, it had been replaced with today. He was kidnapped by an alien posing as a Russian exchange student, chased by vicious monsters, he lost contact with his only human friend, and according to Ray, Jeremiah, preferring alien wilderness to his company, ran away. Worst of all, he was stuck here for the next three months; if those even existed on this planet; being pursued by a lifeless hunk of minerals.
He snatched the rock off his pillow, pulled off his necklace, and dropped them on the nightstand. He didn't want to deal with any of this. So, with the minuscule and ludicrous hope of it all being an elaborate nightmare, he went to bed.
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